The founders of the Bristol-based wealth manager reaped the rewards as their firm entered the FTSE 100 in March this year, with its market cap now £3.05bn.

It was a good investment by the former accountants who put in just £500 each 30 years ago to kick-start the firm.

Hargreaves is now 65th on the Rich List, up from 111 last year, with his wealth estimated at a huge £1.02bn. This is a rise of some £450m on 2010. The 64-year-old's stake in Hargreaves Lansdown is worth £938m. When the company floated in 2007, he sold shares worth £75m while dividends and salaries along the way boost his fortune further.

Meanwhile, Lansdown is behind his partner in the money stakes but still jumped from 150 to 90 in the Rich List. His wealth is now £750m, up £298m on 2010.

Lansdown, 58, last year stepped down as an executive director at Hargeaves Lansdown. He is also about to stand aside as chairman of Bristol City football club, although he will continue to help financially with a new stadium.

Lansdown sold £75m of his stock at the 2007 flotation of the business, then another £47m of shares in 2009 to fund private projects. He sold another £58m holding in 2010 but retains a £587m stake in the group.

Other notable financial services names to perform well in this year's list include Resolution's Clive Cowdery who rose from 596 to 583 with an estimated wealth of £120m.

Husband and wife power couple Crispin Odey and Nichola Pease also had a strong year, jumping from 241 to 177 with their combined wealth at £453m.

However, Barclays' chief Bob Diamond slid down the list from 688 to 697, although he is still worth a huge £102m. Diamond, 59, a London-based American who took British citizenship, moved to the chief executive job at Barclays after running its successful Barclays Capital operation. He has a £37m stake. In 2010, he collected a £6.5m salary and bonus. While he waived his bonus in 2009, his past salaries, share option gains and bonuses were at least £50m from 2006. He made £26.5m from the 2009 sale of Barclays' BGI arm.

New Star founder John Duffield and family's position also dropped this year from 214 to 237 with their wealth at £330m. Duffield's new investment business, Brompton Asset Management Holdings, made £95,000 profit on £3.5m turnover in 2009-10. His old operation, New Star Asset Management, was sold in 2009 in a £115m deal. Duffield, 71, earlier sold the Jupiter Tyndall investment firm, making about £185m. He also has a near £32m stake in the separate and quoted New Star Investment Trust.

In total, Britain's super-rich achieved an 18% rise in their collective wealth over the past year.

Together, the 1,000 multi-millionaires are £60.2bn better off than they were in 2010. They are now worth a total of £395.8bn, which is within striking distance of their all-time pre-recession high of £413bn in 2008.

Lakshmi Mittal, the steel magnate, retained the number one spot for the seventh year running with his wealth standing at £17.51bn.